Aleister pushed the door to Dab's Bakery open. A small above him bell rang. The first thing that caught his attention was the aroma of fresh fruits that tantalized his nostrils and caused his mouth to water. The inside of the shop was quite small. Most of the area, no doubt taken up by the kitchen in the back. Which was hidden by the display of various cakes, cookies, pastries, and other delicacies. For seats to sit at, there were only a few separated small stone tables and chairs.

"Welcome to Dab's. How may I help you?" a flowery voice asked, grabbing his attention.

He looked up from the display. In front of him stood a quite handsome half-orc. His skin was a two-toned aquamarine green, dressed up in a brown double-breasted jacket covered by a white apron. Only a few inches taller than him. He combed the top of his black hair back with the sides tapered down. His clean-shaven face exposed his ever so slightly pointed ears and the two tiniest tusks that grew from his mouth.

Even in Osetia, orcs, let alone half-orcs, were rare. The southern edges of Kedellgrim were quite the travel and most of them that lived in the Lillium Empire avoided large cities.

"Hi there, are you Dab?"

The half-orc stared deep into his eyes. He spoke up and still maintained his pleasant tone. "Sorry to disappoint. I'm his son, Malozar. My father is currently out sick, so I'm maintaining care of the shop in his absence. How may I help?."

"Well, nice to meet you, Malozar. My name is Aleister." He took out the tin of cookies and showed him the contents. "A friend of mine showed these to me and I really like them."

"Oh, those are our sugar snap cookies," Malozar said. "I'm afraid that we've sold out of those for today, but if you come back tomorrow morning, a fresh new batch will be available."

Aleister sighed. "Just my luck, huh?"

Malozar chuckled and waved his hand down. "I can show you some other cookies that are similar if you're interested, or you can continue to take a look at what we currently have."

"I'm all ears."

"Alright, so these are our chocolate-chip cookies, very common but personally my favourite." He pointed lower. "These are our raspberry and peach biscuit cookies, very fruity in flavour and with an almost cakey texture—"

"Honestly, I don't want to waste your time so just give me like like two of each."

"Uh," the half-orc took a step back and said, "Are you sure."

"One-hundred percent."

Malozar nodded and grabbed a pair of tongs, quickly filling up three tins with cookies. Once finished, he placed them in a paper bag and said, "Alright, your total is six silver."

Aleister nodded. "Alright, then I'll go ahead and purchase one of everything else as well."

"Sorry?" Malozar rapidly blinked. "Did you say you wanted one of everything?"

"Yup, I want one slice or piece of everything. How much will that be?"

Malozar grabbed a sheet of paper from behind him and took out a quill pen. All numbers, from what Aleister could see. "Five gold and seven silver, plus the six silver from earlier, brings your total up to six gold and three silver."

Aleister took out the coins and placed them in Malozar's hand. "You can keep the change."

A sudden scream broke out.

"Uh, I'll go check that out." Aleister opened the door and stepped outside. His foot crunched against something, but he didn't worry about it for now.

"Your stupid kid threw a stone at my bird!" a woman shouted at the top of her lungs.

"I'm so sorry for his actions," the other woman said. "He already apologized but he can say sorry again if you wish."

Aleister rolled his eyes. Even the guard nearby made an audible groan before stepping in. Well, this was of no bother to him. He lifted his foot and picked up the small wooden tube he stepped on. Finder's keepers.

"Nothing too bad happened, I hope?" Malozar asked, cutting a slice of cake.

"Unfortunately not."

"Unfortunately? Did you wish something bad happened?"

"Eh, not necessarily bad per se," Aleister leaned against the empty part of a wall, "but something more exciting than a kid hitting some ladies bird." He popped open the tube.

"Well, I am glad that neither nothing bad nor exciting happened." Malozar went back to packing up the desserts.

Aleister peered into the tube, but made sure it wasn't right next to his face. Seeing nothing dangerous, he flipped it over and caught the rolled up paper that fell. He unraveled it. The written contents were in an unfamiliar language, and not one he recognized. Not Common, Gnymish or Elvish for sure. Dwarvish or Orkish, eh, probably not, but no harm in asking. "Does any of this look familiar to you?" he asked Malozar.

He looked up and glanced at the paper. He shook his head and said, "Sorry, it doesn't. What is it for?"

"Yeah, I didn't think so either." Aleister shrugged. "What is this? A piece of paper. But what this piece of paper represents—I have no idea. I literally picked it up just now."

Malozar finished packing and handed the large bag over. "There you are. Thank you for your patronage."

"Yeah, no problem. Those cookies were actually just, too good."

Malozar nervously chuckled. "My father is quite the genius, isn't he?"

"Yes, send him my praises! Although, don't discredit yourself." Aleister remembered his disaster of an experience. "Succeeding in the recipes execution is a talent in itself."

"I'm glad you think so."

"Oh, before I leave, would you, by chance, happen to do custom cake orders?"

"We usually do, but my father isn't here now, so I wouldn't want to disappoint you."

"Why yes, I did notice you father wasn't here, which is why I didn't ask him."

Malozar stared at him, leaving an awkward silence to linger in the room.

"Was that a yes?"